To be completely honest, the moment Daoist Lord Hanhai discovered that Yun Zhi's soul lamp had gone out, he had been trembling from head to toe with terror.
For even Yun Zhi to perish—just what caliber of enemy could this be?
Fortunately, after rushing over, he realized that Yun Zhi was only playing dead.
"Thank heavens she was only playing dead."
Lu Yang also felt Ancestor Hanhai made a good point. To take down Eldest Senior Sister without making a sound, what kind of unimaginable existence would such an enemy have to be?
*Wait a second. Silently taking down Eldest Senior Sister... why does that sound so familiar?*
He hurried to ask the Immortal Fairy hiding in his spiritual space, "Fairy, back then, could it be that you cast the Art of Playing Dead and then got ambushed?"
"That's impossible. This immortal had already reached grand accomplishment in the Art of Playing Dead back then, all right? Why would I cast the Art of Playing Dead for no reason?"
"Besides, this immortal forgot what happened during that period, and my head was all groggy. Something else definitely happened; it had nothing to do with the Art of Playing Dead."
Lu Yang reflected and agreed. The Art of Playing Dead didn't carry amnesia as an aftereffect.
"Do you know how to snap her out of that state?" Even though he knew Yun Zhi was playing dead, looking at Yun Zhi's corpse still left Daoist Lord Hanhai with his heart in his throat.
"Based on my experience with playing dead, as long as you attack Eldest Senior Sister and make her feel a threat, she'll wake up."
Daoist Lord Hanhai fell silent for a moment, sensing how immensely difficult that sounded.
He looked around at the people present, but Lu Yang was the only one there.
By comparison, it was still more plausible if he took action himself.
Daoist Lord Hanhai gritted his teeth. "I'll try!"
A faintly discernible fruit appeared over his chest. Resembling an apple, its color was indiscernible as he frantically drove his rudimentary Space Dao fruit.
Boundless spatial power coalesced within his palm, seemingly capable of tearing through heaven and earth. The entire space became unstable. Standing off to the side, Lu Yang felt as though he would be torn to pieces from merely a single glance!
Yun Zhi, sitting quietly upon the imperial throne, slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Daoist Lord Hanhai.
"She really woke up?!" Excited, Daoist Lord Hanhai dispersed the spatial power in his hand.
His strongest attack had actually threatened Yun Zhi! Had he unknowingly become this powerful already?!
"Eldest Senior Sister, how do you feel?" Lu Yang hurried forward to ask.
Yun Zhi hesitated briefly before saying, "I felt like my clothes were about to be ruined, so I woke up. Little Junior Brother, do you know what happened?"
Daoist Lord Hanhai was struck speechless.
He coughed dryly twice, warned Lu Yang with a glance not to speak a word of what just transpired, and opened a spatial gate to flee the scene.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. Lu Yang spent the time meditating and cultivating honestly, working diligently without the slightest slack.
"Little Junior Brother, there's a letter for you." Lu Yang looked up and found that Third Senior Sister had actually come looking for him.
"A letter?"
"Mm. While descending the mountain, I happened to run into a junior brother. Originally, he was going to come to Tianmen Peak to find you, saying that a letter had been sent to you from the Sword Tower. Since it was on my way, I took it."
"A letter from the Sword Tower?"
Lu Yang felt somewhat curious. He didn't seem to have had any dealings with the Sword Tower, though his master's generation had plenty of ties with them.
On the front of the envelope was drawn a sword soaring straight into the heavens. This was the insignia of the Sword Tower; every disciple of the Sword Tower had this emblem tattooed on their chest, said to have been personally designed by the Sword Tower Supreme.
"Let me see. The letter says the Sword Tower is hosting the centennial Grand Sword Inquiry Ceremony, inviting sword cultivators from all over the world to attend."
"So it's the Grand Sword Inquiry Ceremony. Counting the time, it really is about due to be held."
The Grand Sword Inquiry Ceremony was a grand festival that showcased the Sword Tower's status in the Sword Dao. When the time came, sword cultivators from Great Xia, the East Sea, the Demon Domain, and the Buddhist Kingdom would all attend, making it exceptionally bustling. In the minds of sword cultivators, attending the Grand Sword Inquiry Ceremony once in a lifetime was an absolute must, an honor belonging to every sword cultivator.
"It just so happens that the Dark Moon Sword is struggling to keep up with my cultivation. It'll be nice to visit the Sword Tower; they should sell swords there as well."
The Dark Moon Sword had been forged from a sword formation used by Immortal Kirin. While it was technically a sword formation of the immortal grade, Immortal Kirin would have had to have his brain bashed in by Immortal Ying Tian to actually forge it out of immortal gold; the material of the sword formation was quite ordinary. Now that Lu Yang's cultivation was superb, if he swung the Dark Moon Sword with full force, he feared he might snap it in half.
Although he could also ask Eldest Senior Sister to find him one, a real man lived between heaven and earth; he couldn't rely on Eldest Senior Sister for everything.
Gathering materials and asking Li Haoran to forge a fine sword was also an option, but considering that Lu Yang would show off his cultivation in front of Li Haoran whenever he had a spare moment, begging Li Haoran now felt a bit too embarrassing.
"Then I'll pay a visit to broaden my horizons with the world's sword cultivators," Lu Yang said with a grin.
Cultivating inside the sect all the time was dreadfully dull; he finally had an excuse to go outside.
There was still a month before the Grand Sword Inquiry Ceremony, so it was quite early. The Sword Tower was located in Shuzhou, separated from the Dao Seeking Sect by more than half of Great Xia. Flying there would take half a month, so leaving now was somewhat premature.
Lu Yang worried that unexpected incidents might occur along the way, so heading out ahead of schedule was fine too.
Before departing, Lu Yang skillfully took inventory of his belongings: Rejuvenation Pills, Great Restoration Pills, the Green Blade Sword, the Seven Stars Sword Set, spirit stones, the Immortal Fairy...
"All set. Time to go!"
The Sword Tower was too far from the Dao Seeking Sect. Even someone at the Soul Formation stage couldn't fly the entire way in a single breath, so Lu Yang opted for a slower, effortless, and far more comfortable flying boat.
Aboard the flying boat, a young miss from who-knew-what prominent family loudly demanded Lu Yang's seat, tossing spirit stones his way to buy it. Right then, an inexperienced, chivalrous youth stood up to intervene, rebuking the young miss for being unreasonable and bullying others using her family's influence. Seeing that she couldn't out-argue the youth, the young miss signaled her bodyguards to teach him a lesson. Unexpectedly, while the youth didn't look like he had high cultivation, his combat strength was extraordinarily formidable, and he easily defeated the two bodyguards whose cultivations were higher than his. The youth even proceeded to spank the young miss's rear, turning her cheeks crimson and drawing an embarrassed cry from her lips. The way she looked at the youth completely changed; from childhood to adulthood, no one had ever dared to strike her like that.
Soon, the flying boat docked at a major city. The local authorities arrested the young miss and her two bodyguards for picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and arrested the youth for indecency.
Lu Yang also noticed that the young miss was bound by a marriage contract, traveling this time to meet a fiancé she had never seen whose family fortunes had declined. The youth was also bound by a marriage contract, traveling to meet a fiancée he had never seen who had suddenly struck it rich.
There were also two Daoist priests on the flying boat, an old one and a young one, both dressed in tattered rags. The old Daoist carried a wine gourd at his waist, swaying as he walked, exuding a heavy stench of wine. It was impossible to tell how long it had been since he last bathed, and foul odor was mixed into the wine smell. The young Daoist had not yet shed his childish innocence, calling out "Master" with every breath, having to jog just to keep up with the old Daoist's pace. The other passengers aboard the boat covered their noses and cast disgusted looks at the old Daoist, but the old Daoist couldn't care less about other people's gazes, perfectly at ease.
Finally, a passenger could no longer endure the stench coming from the old Daoist and moved to teach him a lesson. Nobody could have imagined that this unassuming old Daoist was a Body Integration grand cultivator wandering playfully through the mortal realm. Even more unexpected was that the passenger was also a Body Integration grand cultivator, likewise wandering playfully through the mortal realm. Before long, the two Body Integration grand cultivators were brawling with each other.
Lu Yang slipped beside the young Daoist and told him that if he ever considered changing masters, he could come to their Dao Seeking Sect; the people of their Dao Seeking Sect were all very attentive to personal hygiene.
After the fight concluded, Lu Yang, thinking the feng shui of this cabin might be terrible, planned to pay extra to upgrade to a luxury cabin.
Soon after, terrible news broke over at the luxury cabins: a passenger had been murdered in the dead of night, and the other twelve passengers in the cabin could all testify for one another, each possessing an alibi, leaving everyone clueless as to who had struck the blow.
Lu Yang felt it was probably better not to change cabins after all.
Chapter 977